Google quietly introduces World Cup easter egg

ByMatthew ShaerJune 8, 2010

The World Cup is fast approaching. And what better way to celebrate than with a shiny new Google World Cup easter egg? (Google World Cup easter egg not pictured here. Sorry, folks. We hope Spain's forward David Villa, in red, will do.)

Google has celebrated the anniversary of the Pac-Man game, Wallace and Gromit, and the birthday of Antonio Vivaldi. Was there any doubt that Google would be introducing some sort of ode to the World Cup? But if you were hoping for a colorful World Cup doodle, you'll just have to wait until the tournament officially gets under way. For now, you'll just have to settle for a Google World Cup easter egg.

Here's how it works: Plug the phrase "World Cup" into your Google search bar. (You can also use variants of the phrase, such as "World Cup soccer.") When the results pop up, scroll to the bottom of the page. Instead of the word "Goooooooooogle," you should see the word "Gooooooooooal!" You know, as in the sound the announcer makes when someone gets a particularly spectacular shot past the goal keeper. Fun, right?

Google easter eggs have been around almost as long as Google itself. One of our favorites involves the following query: "number of horns on a unicorn." Type that into the Google search bar, and you'll get a result – from Google Calculator. For even more fun, trying entering the word "recursion" into the search box. And then prepare to descend into madness.

Of course, all the Google easter eggs together have nothing on the infamous Chuck Norris prank of 2009. Last year, in an attempt to confound Chuck Norris lovers everywhere, one Web-savvy trickster created a fake Google results page at the domain nochucknorris.com. When users typed "Google Chuck Norris" into the Google search frame, and hit the "I'm feeling lucky button," the fake domain came up first.